The United States President, Donald Trump, has maintained a prominent, often celebratory, presence since the announcement of Palestinian group Hamas’s agreement to hand over its weaponry in Gaza. However, this agreement carries significant stipulations, notably a commitment to Israel’s withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave and gradual transfer of power to a Palestinian administration – conditions that have ignited a frosty response from Israeli politicians and within the Israeli press. The Israeli government remains largely silent, but one unnamed senior official revealed that, despite reporting ‘diplomatic progress’ in Gaza, a formal withdrawal from Israel’s current positions within the territory is still contingent on what is determined to be ‘the genuine disarmament of Hamas.’
Trump, for his part, has repeatedly emphasized his ‘happy’ assessment of the deal. A May poll indicated 82% of Jewish Israeli respondents unequivocally supported the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, mirroring a similar poll finding that 56% supported the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their homes. A subsequent poll in late October found that 64% of surveyed individuals believed there were ‘no innocents’ among the Palestinians in Gaza.
Moreover, a significant number of Israeli politicians, including government ministers and prominent figures like former Chief of Staff Benjamin Netanyahu’s rival, Gadi Eisenkot, have expressed skepticism regarding any agreement that stops short of the war’s objectives – the destruction of Hamas’s military-political power. Eisenkot’s statement underscored a reluctance to compromise on the war’s core demands, highlighting a potential shift in strategic priorities.
The prospect of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and steps towards reconstruction is deeply unpopular amongst Israelis, with politicians quick to condemn the disarmament agreement. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has denounced it as ‘unacceptable,’ asserting that the assassination of Hamas’s murderers is tantamount to orchestrating a massacre. The term ‘encouragement of emigration’ is widely interpreted as referring to ethnic cleansing.
Politicians regarded as centrists, such as former chief of staff and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leading rival in the upcoming election, Gadi Eisenkot, were equally skeptical. He stated that any deal that stopped short of the war’s objectives – the destruction of Hamas’s military-political power – was a total failure. Netanyahu’s silence remains a critical point, though US-Israeli pollster Dahlia Scheindlin suggests the stakes are high for the prime minister, with the election only a few months away. Netanyahu’s likely best chance of avoiding a jail sentence if he is found guilty of numerous corruption charges rests on him winning the October elections.
However, the opposition is currently leading in many polls, potentially giving them the opportunity to gain enough seats to form a government. Scheindlin stated, ‘Netanyahu’s considerations have nothing to do with public trauma [from the October 7 attack]…everything to do with politics.’ Withdrawing from Gaza was out of the question, Scheindlin said, adding that whatever gambit Netanyahu undertook to maintain his coalition and encourage right-wing voters to support him had to be accomplished without further alienating his allies in the US, who appear to have grown increasingly frustrated with him. [Netanyahu] will not want to be seen by Trump and the Americans as undermining any possible moves towards implementing this agreement. And so, therefore, he might manage some very symbolic moving of the Israeli army within Gaza, a tactic that Scheindlin suggests could be a way to reassert Israeli control over the territory, albeit with a limited scope.”
One anonymous US official has already stated that Trump would be ‘very, very disappointed’ if Israel did not adhere to the disarmament agreement.
Source: Al Jazeera
